The Color of Flowers
by LA-ink13
Summary: Callen used flowers to express what words couldn't. *one-shot*


RED

The first flowers were red roses, the morning after their first date. She knew it was a cliché, but that didn't keep her from melting a little at the sight of them. She had liked him since the day she started, and now that he had noticed her, and now that he was paying attention, she was pleasantly overwhelmed.

She inhaled deeply into the flowers and grinned. Filling a vase with water she set them on her entry table so they would be the first thing she saw when she came home from work. A part of her wanted to bring them to the office, but she knew she wasn't ready to share the bold declaration of his feelings for her with anyone else.

ORANGE

She looked at the card attached to the orange tiger lilies and grinned. _I dare you to love me._ She had dared him almost the same thing the evening before when she asked him what he was so scared of. He hadn't answered her then, but she knew this morning he was ready to tell her.

She knew that she would accept his dare. There was no way she couldn't. In the three months since they had starting going out, she had loved him for all of them. She carefully placed the flowers in the vase that had taken up residence on her entry table, and gently stroked a petal. She heard his car pull in front of her house, and while she knew a lady should wait at the door for her date, she couldn't help herself from throwing open the front door and meeting him on the sidewalk, her arms wrapped around his neck. Dare accepted.

YELLOW

The yellow irises were in the vase in the hallway. He had surprised her in the afternoon while she was home from work with a cold. He had shown up an hour ago with the bright flowers and a pot of soup. He said Hetty had asked him to check in on her.

They had been discovered. She was sure that if she weren't so sick she'd question how long their boss had known, but right now all she could think of was the feel of his arms wrapped around her as she sniffled against his chest. She had chills when he arrived, but now that he was there, she was toasty warm and finally felt like she could sleep. She felt his lips on her warm forehead and she smiled. This was love.

GREEN

She laughed when he sent her green gladioluses. He had insisted they were just something different, and that he didn't have a clue what they meant. Since they had been delivered the day after their first fight about his independence in the field she knew he wasn't telling the full truth.

She knew that he thought of himself as an invincible warrior, but at night when they were alone together in bed, he let her see her scars – both physical and mental – and she knew that he was as mortal as she was. She hated when he threw himself in danger, and all she could do was watch. He promised to be more careful and not go off the grid. But she knew he was fighting his nature. And the fact that he fought against it for her, said more than flowers ever could.

BLUE

The bluebells were her favorite. It didn't surprise her that he said they reminded him of her. Between their delicate size and their name, there wasn't a flower that was more like her. He brought them more often than any other flower, and they were always the ones that she liked the most. She had some pressed between pages of books from every bunch that he had given her.

Tonight's were different. Tonight the flowers had been accompanied by a small blue box. He had gotten down on one knee and asked her the one question that she thought he would never utter. The grin on her face had been enough of an answer for him to slip the thin, silver band on her finger and hours later, she was contently curled next to him in her bed, still staring in wonder at the diamond on her finger.

PURPLE

The deep purple hydrangeas accented the white roses in her bouquet perfectly. She was glad that she had been persuaded by everyone to use them. The beach wedding has been perfect and she was glad that it had been a simple affair. She was even happier that it was over with.

The bouquet now lay forgotten on the entry table, she hadn't even taken the time to put it in a vase and he had carried her over the threshold and into the bedroom. The entry table was hers from her old apartment, but now it resided in their house. The house they would spend forever in, raise children in, fight it, and make up in. The rest of her life had finally begun, and the only man she could ever imagine it with lay beside her.

PINK

The pink gerbera daisies in the vase made her smile. She had called off work when her morning sickness kept her up the entire night, and the flowers reminded her that he was just as excited as she was about the small life that was growing inside of her.

It was too soon for them to be sure that it was a girl, but she felt that it was, and he wasn't going to talk her out of it. He indulged her with pink flowers and the promise of a princess nursery as soon as they were sure. Only three months pregnant she hadn't started to show yet, but that didn't stop him from bragging about how smart and beautiful their child would be. The love that he had amazed her every day, and she never stopped being grateful for what she had found in her lone wolf turned family man.


End file.
